Free publications
We regularly produce papers and articles on various topics, some of which are free to receive and others available for purchase at a nominal cost. Free items will appear on this page of our website. You can immediately download copies of free articles by simply clicking on the image alongside the article description.
7 things CEOs of insurance businesses in Arabian Gulf markets might want to consider doing
December 2025, 3,750 words, 7 pages of content
Driven largely by advances in technology, changing customer expectations (especially among “digital generations”), new ways of working and a transformation of the ways in which we communicate, insurance company CEOs need to reconsider their approach in a number of areas. This article will cover each of these separately but does not constitute a comprehensive review of every aspect of a CEO’s role. The topics include:
- Be a coordinator not commander
- Be a strategic thinker not a firefighter
- Do not hide yourself, build your personal brand
- Prioritise consistency and financial discipline
- Embrace technology
- Maximise the opportunities of ESG and CSR
- Engage more with regulators and trade bodies
This is a free publication
Defining strategy and why having one is critical for insurance businesses in Arabian Gulf countries
October 2025, 3,500 words, 8 pages of content
It is perhaps the short-term nature of insurance in GCC countries that sees many insurers and insurance brokers neglect their longer term strategy. But there is also a lack of understanding about what strategy actually is and its associated terminology are often misunderstood.
This paper will explore the history of strategy, clarify terminology and describe a model for strategy development that includes the "Consilient 10" elements of strategy.
It also describes why having a well-defined and documented strategy is essential given the challenges facing insurance businesses and the pace at which those challenges evolve, not least in the areas of new regulations, advances in technology and changing consumer preferences.
This is a free publication
A critique of workplace wellness and a model to secure successful program implementation
September 2025, 4,000 words, 11 pages of content
Workplace wellness has been talked about for over 10 years in the United Arab Emirates. Yet there have been hardly any successful scheme implementations.
This paper will explore the concept of wellness, the history of its application in the United Arab Emirates, the challenges promoters of such schemes face and what approach is needed in order to succeed in making wellness a key priority for employers as well as individuals.
What is required for wellness initiatives to succeed, particularly corporate initiatives is for them to be holistic, meaning well researched, designed, implemented, monitored, assessed for outcomes and realigned for the coming period based upon those outcomes. Scheme promoters also need to understand the obstacles that will be placed in their path by sceptical employers who need to be convinced of the financial benefits of investing in a corporate wellness scheme.
This is a free publication
An essential cultural approach to successful market entry in Arabian Gulf Markets
August 2025, 3,500 words, 8 pages of content
There has been an influx of foreign companies seeking to enter the markets of the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council states (the “GCC”) as their domestic markets suffer turmoil or as they simply see the GCC as a new and profitable market for their services.
Unfortunately, for many of these companies their efforts ended in failure, often with significant expenses incurred along the way.
This paper will explore the reasons for such failures in terms of business and social cultural understanding and explain what steps foreign companies who wish to expand into the GCC should follow in order to succeed.
This is a free publication
The future of health insurance in an age of prediction and prevention
July 2025, 5,300 words, 10 pages of content
This paper explores the impact on the health insurance sector in GCC markets of increasing technological developments in the prediction of illnesses. It considers how the fee for service model will need to be replaced for health insurance to remain relevant as we pivot from curative care to predictive and preventive care and alternative reimbursement models.
This is a free publication
Challenges for the UAE insurance broking market and why a strategy is essential
April 2025, 2,500 words, 6 pages of content
This paper details 18 challenges facing the insurance broking market in the United Arab Emirates and explains how to develop a strategy that will assist insurance brokers to not just survive but to thrive.
This is a free publication
The moral hazards of mandatory private health insurance in Arabian Gulf countries
December2024, 5,300 words, 10 pages of content
This paper explains how the employer-funded mandatory private health insurance system in some GCC territories is a failure in terms of its financial sustainability and in its role in improving population health, due mainly to poor regulatory controls and interventions.
This is a free publication
The current state of the health insurance market of the United Arab Emirates and recommendations for improvement
January 2023, 4,900 words, 11 pages of content
This paper is a hard-hitting critique of how the private health insurance-based healthcare funding model employed in the two largest emirates of the UAE is undisciplined, under regulated, is largely loss making for insurers, is not improving population health and needs to be improved.
This is a free publication
The case for health insurance premium regulation in the United Arab Emirates
June 2022, 1,700 words, 4 pages of content
This 1,700 word, four page paper provides arguments for and an approach to the regulation of health insurance premiums in the United Arab Emirates. The arguments also hold well for some other countries which use private health insurance as a primary health care financing tool.
This is a free publication
Reasons why the private health insurance provider network system needs reform
July 2021, 3,300 words, 7 pages
This 3,300 word, seven page paper discusses the reasons why the "price-driven" private health insurance provider network system used in many countries, particularly in the Arabian Gulf and other Middle East countries where private health insurance dominates, serves to reduce accessibility to and quality of care. It argues for reform, backed by regulators, to negate the widely held "price equals quality" myth and replace it with the principle that "health outcomes equate to quality".
This is a free publication
Reasons why private health insurance is unlike "insurance" and the implications for sustainable health financing systems
November 2021, 10,000 words, 17 pages
The reason for this paper comes from the author’s observations of developments in the role of private health insurance and the increasing use of private health insurance by some governments as a health system financing tool. Together with changes to underwriting brought about by the increasing collection of behavioural data at the consumer level, competition pressures on insurance companies and the expectations of some governments that health insurance policies should offer preventive benefits, the author argues that health insurance is leaving behind some of the core insurance principles such as covering unexpected risks and risk pooling.
This paper suggests reasons to support the view that the above and other changes are leading to private health insurance creating a disenfranchised population, a three-tier system of financing health care, the marginalisation of some insurers and increasing market control concentrated in fewer market participants.
The paper also challenges existing models of health insurance and proposes alternatives, some of which are counter-intuitive in an economic environment in which some governments are “disengaging” from providing health care and in which policy makers and the private sector push for privatisation of health care financing.
This is a free publication
15 essentials for African countries to achieve sustainable healthcare financing systems
August 2020, 3,500 words, 7 pages
This 3,500 word, seven page paper describes elements for successful and sustainable healthcare financing systems ranging from policy making across financing models, benefits package design, costing, delivery mechanisms, population coverage and the key role of technology in delivering a system. It includes sections on implementation, communication and governance as well as using data analytics as a key management tool to promote efficiency and reduce fraud, waste and abuse in the system.
This is a free publication
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